Google revealed its new cross-platform Photos app and service today at its I/O developer conference taking place right now. The idea is similar to Apple’s own Photos app and iCloud Photo Library. Google is automatically backing up and syncing photo and video libraries using Google Drive storage and not local device storage, but Google’s killer feature for its version comes down to price: Google Photos is completely free.Without any subscription fee or access charge, Google will backup and sync your photo collection across your devices and the web while maintaining photo quality up to 16MP and video quality up to 1080p.
Apple’s own free tier is limited to an impractical 5GB while it offers up to 1TB of iCloud storage for a monthly cost of $19.99 with tiers in between including 20GB for 99¢ and 200GB for $3.99 or 500GB for $9.99.
Google Photos features a similar design to Apple’s own app for viewing images and videos by day or year, and it includes built-in sharing functions for sending photos and videos online easily even if the recipient doesn’t use Google Photos.
https://youtu.be/ydBjsZnHrwM
I’m personally pretty invested in Apple’s iCloud Photo Library and appreciate the native Mac app, but Google’s “free” price should be a compelling offer for a lot of iOS users looking for a more approachable price for a similar experience.
Google Photos is also cross-platform with access from the web for computers and a native app for Android and even iOS. Google Photos for iPhone should be available here later today.
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I really hope Apple is watching this. I want this for Apple’s ecosystem!
Exactly, the penny-punching with Apple is always accessive. dot-Mac used to be $99 a year and is now much better and free (iCloud) > that’s sells expensive hardware. Photo storage should be the same, as should device backup storage. 5GB for all devices on one account is embarrassing. It should be at least 25 GB for free per iCloud account. But it probably should be 100 GB. Most people won’t use that space and it’ll sell lots of $700-$3000 devices along the way. My brother’s iPad keeps telling him to spend 99c a month to increase his storage so he can backup his €700 device and it’s leaving a bad taste in his mouth. It’s only €12 per year and I think Apple needs to take it on the chin for the bigger picture.
“Googled revealed its new cross-platform Photos app and service today”
Googled?
“Without any subscription free”
Subscription free?
Shouldn’t you be proofreading what you write?
I thought this too. Zac, I understand that this article was an afterthought compared to the 9to5Google article (as this is really more of a Google-centric topic), but you should at least make sure that the FIRST word of the article is spelled right. =)
DC and Jesse,
I wasn’t aware 9to5 had a subscription fee and you used the information provided here to make major financial decisions for your investments and companies.
Oh, that’s right. It’s free, and you don’t.
Calm thy teets. If a few mistakes in an article, on a free site, in a rush to report breaking news, are all that it takes to get you ruffled up, then I cannot express enough sympathy to you both when you meet reality and the real world.
I don’t care – well, I care enough to read the comments and respond… – the tone is probably too negative on their parts but the appearance of publishing an article quickly after an event/announcement that includes a couple of mistakes that probably (my opinion) are a result of making sure the article gets published ASAP is annoying as a fan of the site. This isn’t necessarily what they were thinking, but for me, I like this site and visit it often,…if they started doing things that I thought were in poor taste/showed poor judgement, it would bother me.
Brandon, I am not certain why you got so upset over our comments. Two readers of this site pointed out that we would prefer quality writing to hitting arbitrary deadlines. There was no mean spirit to these posts. They were both light-hearted criticisms that were well founded.
Perhaps it is you who needs to “calm thy teets” and realize that communities such as this allow the readers to voice their opinions on the articles. Writing is a collaborative process. Authors are used to taking feedback from editors and readers. Zac is mature enough not to take offense to our critiques. I am not certain why you are taking such offense.
However, I feel the need (or perhaps the desire) to point out the amusing hypocrisy in your comment. You got frustrated with us for commenting on something we didn’t care for. So, you then commented and criticized us for something you didn’t care for. I do not take offense to this, nor I’m sure will dcj001. But, lighten up buddy! This is the Internet. No need to get so upset over little things. Cheers! =)
This 5GB free storage is now officially a joke and not even worth talking about. Its essentially meaningless.
What you have to keep in mind is that Google isn’t just graciously giving us unlimited storage for “free”. When you put things in their cloud they can do with it whatever they want. They can analyze it and gather data and then sell that data. This is ok because they are offering a benefit for that cost. Dropbox and Apple do not analyze and sell your data because you give them money.
You can’t just give away data without anything in return. That being said, it would be great to see Apple a larger starting point higher than 5GB.
Typical fan boy response to justify a pathetic 5GB. Apple doesnt have to do unlimited to do better than they are doing.
@chrisl84
Oh lord please…. Typical Apple hater response to justify his Apple hate. If Apple gave away 10GB for free you’d say the exact same thing. What Joe said was all 100% true and accurate. When a company monetizes the data it collects, it’s in its best interest to give storage away for free so as to collect more of that valuable data. Apple doesn’t monetize that data in general, and therefore has to justify the storage it offers with a price tag.
And Joe did say that while having said all that truth, it would be “great to see Apple with a larger starting point higher than 5GB”.
So Joe has shown himself to be a fair and knowledgeable person, while Chrisl84 just a bitchy fanboy.
I posted this in the 9to5Google article as well… But as an iPhone user, I chose Dropbox as the best photo backup solution (with no dedicated Google Drive photo app). Dropbox, on the other hand, has Carousel and a bunch of other 3rd party apps that integrate with the photos. But, this App could level the playing field. I will definitely check it out!
I do the same. I use both the new iCloud photos app and dropbox. I trust Dropbox a bit more, lol, but Apple’s new Photos app is pretty nice though.
hell yeah i will download the app
This is great. I’m hoping Apple will follow in a similar pattern.
Yeah, it’s free until they start charging money. will Google be pulling a Facebook by getting access to your photos and then selling them to 3rd parties?
It is also worth pointing out that they only support up to 16 Megapixel photos. If you have a camera that shoots higher than this, it will be a lossy solution or an incomplete solution. Part of the appeal of iCloud Photo Library is that it is an uncompressed cloud backup solution.
Have photos over 16MP in iCloud Photo Library and you will be paying 120 bucks a year for that 500GB plan
I’ll take the free storage but if your photos are over 16 MP or video over 1080p, they will be counted towards your limited free storage of 15 GB and undergo google compression.
https://support.google.com/photos/an…p=storage&rd=1
It’s interesting, but I prefer Apple’s convenience. I just wish they would adjust their pricing for photo storage. It’s too pricey.
I agree .. just needs a adjustment ..Its just impractical to give 5gb for free storage to store everything including contacts, docs, backup and photos
Agreed. 25GB for free would be perfect. But it’s still really cheap as is and am amused by how much people complain about a few dollars a month to handle data from thousands of dollars worth of equipment.
If you think $4 a month for 200 GiB is considered too pricey you shouldn’t even be using any product from Apple. Period.
That’s a foolish outlook to take. hungarianhc said that he prefers Apple’s convenience, but thinks that the pricing needs to be adjusted. The market is always adjusting to accommodate new competition, technology, and pricing. This move by Google is a real game changer. Unlimited photo storage for free vs 5 GB for free (and tiered pricing) makes Apple’s offering look expensive and antiquated. This has nothing to do with affordability, but rather with value proposition.
Jesse,
Just don’t forget that Google makes money off of monetizing all that data they get by offering you “free”. Other companies have to charge for things that cost money, they have balance sheets and all. Google can only make it appear free because it’s really not, they will use that data to further enhance their other products and offerings all with a final end result of selling targeted ads.
I was going to respond to you jimr450… But it seems that you’ve seen my post near the bottom of the comments and understand that I DO understand that. =)
People with single digit IQ’s will download this app and use this ‘free service’ from Google. This is quite the opposite of evolution.
I wouldn’t go that far. It’s a fine service, as long as people understand that those photos will be scanned by Google for their purposes and will not be held completely private. If one is okay with that, it’s a great deal. But too many people don’t get it and think it’s really just purely free because Google is the Mother Theresa of the tech world who has no bills to pay and just makes amazing free stuff, lol.
link for iOS devices !
The app isn’t available yet, but this page contains a link for it:
https://photos.google.com/
Big deal – Microsoft has been giving free photo storage with OneDrive for months.
Guys, duh. Google is going to datamine the hell out of the metadata in those pictures. Times, locations, subject matter, etc. They’re going to learn even more about you, and use it to show ads specifically customized to your preferences. The money they’re going to make on the backend from increased revenue based on this will more than make up for the cost of them hosting all your photos for free. I mean it’s a cool move and all, but don’t think Google is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. They’re doing it to make money. Period.
Do you really want Google to have all of your photos? I don’t.
Come one Apple, Amazon, Google have Unlimited photo/video storage…
Ops, Come on…
I realize that I am in the minority here. However, I don’t care if Google mines my data. They can have all of the data they want from me!
I live a generally minimalistic lifestyle. I have a few nice possessions that I care about. I’ve got my Mac, my iPhone, 20 articles or clothing, and a few other comforts. I have a dog and a wife. I have no pictures that I wouldn’t mind posting up in Time Square or sharing with the world.
If Google wants to show me ads that are laser targeted to my likes and dislikes. That’s fine with me! They’re going to show me ads anyway! I’d rather the ads at least be interesting to me!
Exactly… and that’s fine. But a lot of Google fanboys do not understand this like you do and they really think it’s just free and that Apple is super greedy for charging a few dollars a month for storage. Apple doesn’t monetize that data, won’t be scanning the metadata, etc, so they have to make money on a service or the Wall Street assholes will punish them when they fail to post another record breaking profit in the next quarter.
You are perfectly correct, of course. For me (and probably most average consumers), we don’t mind being the product if it saves us a few bucks (or hundreds of dollars per year as the case is for me here).
the problem with google photos (and its predecessors, and all other competitors like Dropbox, Flickr Amazon Photos etc) is that if you go and MODIFY a photo that change isn’t uploaded and transferred so you end up with a library in the cloud (or synced over to other stuff) that ISNT updated. I can’t help but think this is an IOS SDK issue because they ALL have this problem bar iCloud Photos.
Thanks for providing a link to the app. It’s not showing up using the AppStore search.
Hey, maybe Google could volunteer its search services for the AppStore too since they are in such a magnanimous mood. ;-)
Well, they had me at “unlimited”.
Once the death of Aperture was announced I migrated all my photos to Dropbox categorized in folders such as “Birthdays, Vacations, etc.” Using the Dropbox app I can always have all my photos no matter what device I use. Sharing them with family is easy as I simply airplay my phone via Apple TV. I don’t see any limitations to this. Also, this is not really a “free” service. It’s only “free” if you agree for google to lower the quality of your photos. If I wanted to store low quality photos for free online I would have used Facebook a long time ago! For me Dropbox is the best solution. 1TB for $100/year is well worth it for me.
Out of interest, if you had this or any other sync service really running alongside iCloud Photos with the option ‘Optimize iPhone Storage’ set, what gets uploaded? I assume the API’s used by these other tools will fetch the original version from the iCloud Server before syncing the data, but thought I’d check.
Hi, have you found this out? Thanks
Likeit! Any iOS app anytime soon? Are there any technical limitations on the videos more than pixel size? Length? Or file size? Formats?
Also wonder – have any one compared upload speed between google photo and flickr?
Its only free for high quality photos. Original resolution storage comes off your Google quota. But it’s still a far more compelling solution than most.
Apple should provide more free iCloud space. Clearly. You cannot even back up your 800€ iPhone with 16GB, let alone 64GB or 128GB phones (running at 1000+€).
But with snail slow upload speeds currently offered on average in Europe, who wants to upload 60GB at 6 Mbps on a cable connection? (one of the fastest speeds at my home in central Munich – Germany; and when I contacted my provider, they have no plan to increase it).
Most ADSL/Cable connections in Europe are geared for DL speeds (I have 120MBits). Not for UL.
And there are really no meaningful, if at all, mobile “data flats”, like in the USA. Surely I have 30-40 Mbps UL when on LTE here in Munich, but after 3GB, it’s over – GPRS data flat after that.
So honestly, more space in the Cloud, considering what we pay Apple devices, and what competition does, it’s good and it would make sense (let me at least backup completely my iPhone).
But I wouldn’t know how to fill up efficiently GB of photos.
PS: Flickr offers 1TB for photos and Video for free – too bad it tries to upload also my movies that I copied over from iTunes… not just some video I shot with my iPhone.
PS2: I wonder if all these data centers gobbling up TB of data are running on renewable/clean energy – who pays the bill for energy used to store for free TB of data? The planet it seems… Maybe this is why Apple does not offer any such solution for free – probably they are waiting to be able to offer a free service that is “green” too.
Couldn’t agree more! For a long time I have been saying that Apple should give its users the same amount of storage as the device they purchased. And this storage is theirs to keep even if the re-sell the phone. So if you buy a 64GB iPhone, you get 64GB of storage. If you buy a 512GB MacBook, you will get an additional 512GB. Buy a 128GB iPad, they will add 128GB. Unless they want to come out and outright give everyone a TB of free space. I mean it doesn’t cost anything these days. Especially considering what we are paying for all those devices.
Apple is really losing the cloud war in my opinion. iCloud blows and they are not doing anything meaningful with it. Disappointed. Oh, so disappointed!
Alright, I’m giving it a try. I am sick and tired waiting for Apple to figure the Photos thing out themselves. The iCloud Photos thing just sucks! I don’t know where to begin. It’s just bloody horrible!
It’s quite unbelievable that none of the tech companies have still managed to solve the photos problem. I’ll take a look at Google Photos, but I have my doubts already with some of the things I’ve seen.
It’s quite popular these days to have the ”moments/collections” view. You know, you have all your photos in a timeline. Flickr recently updated their site and they have it. But I just don’t think this is enough these days. I think there needs to be an option to separate the library. Make exceptions or something. I only want the timeline thing for the photos that I TOOK. I want it for MY photos, not all photos.
All the tech companies seem to think that I only have my own photos in my photo library. I don’t! When I open my Photos folder (which currently happens to be OneDrive synced folder), it has already 9 different folders. And only one of them actually contains my personal photo library. The rest of the 8 have different kind of photos that I didn’t particularly take.
There are folders with screenshots of various things. Some have funny/inspirational meme’s in them. Others have photos of certain things that I downloaded from the web. Say I’m planning to build a new garden patio or something. So I have a folder full of downloaded photos that I use to get ideas. I have many-many folders with this kind of miscellaneous photos. They are on my OneDrive folder because I do want to have access to this stuff via all my devices. But I DO NOT want to see those things in the timeline page alongside of my family trip to Turkey or my grandma’s 90 birthday. It feels disorganized and outright messy. Don’t you feel like this?
So this is my problem with iCloud Photos too. I simply cannot organize the library well enough to make it work. It looks like it’s a notepad app instead of a real word processor.
C’mon tech companies, you can do so much better!
Important note: The unlimited storage feature != backup. Calling it backup is wrong as Google is compressing your images.
Come up with a photo cloud storage ability to extract my Facebook picture folders and replicate them on your cloud solution please – I’d love to divorce myself from the only thing keeping tied to Facebook !
Any possibility Google Photo can do that ?
I wonder what happens to Google’s PICASA ?!
Will Google migrate Users across to Google Photo and then shut down Picasa,
because they just released an Update for Picasa on May 27th with no Mention of Google Photos.
You obviously haven’t tried it. I blows the socks off of anything Apple has right now. And, I LOVE the new photos app. Having a Google search engine for your own photos takes it to a completely different level though.
unable to download it in pakistan.is it location restricted???
Nothing is free! That’s all I need is to have google mine my social connections and locations by using facial recognition on my photos and skimming EXIF data from my photos. Plus who “owns” the photos once they are uploaded to Google??? I’ll bet you can guess the answer.. Thanks but I’ll pass.
The search function is unbelievable (as one would expect from Google). Some of the results are almost creepy. You can see some of the weirder ones that it got on my blog. https://medium.com/@jessenichols/curious-about-google-photos-9a6537af17a3
‘Cause yeah I want to upload all my photos to the NSA /s. Nice lure with the free thing but no thanks. And anyone foolishly believing Apple’s service is any different (not the free thing) is fooling themselves. Everything you do, post, upload etc is being collected. Don’t be dumb in throwing away your 4th Amendment.
I love when Apple users, the supposed “Rich People” of the mobile world say how great, yet another Free Google product, is. You should stick with apple and their “fair” pricing. they need the revenue from their loyal lemmings.
Last I checked, Apple was Hemorrhaging Money and Swamped in debt. They lose money on every iPhone sold and cant afford to offer these kinds of gimmicks to their customer base!
Speaking of the supposed Wealth of Everyone who uses an iPhone, Why is it just under 95% of you Titans of your own minds, never pay full price for your iToys? Why only buy them subsidized? Apple loses Boatloads of $ subsidizing what you all claim you can afford..